Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said an increase in PM10 concentration was observed in the city on May 16-17.

Chairing a review meeting on the National Capital’s air quality on Thursday, Gopal Rai said the Delhi government has always been taking tough steps to contain the growing pollution in the National Capital.

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“Today, a review meeting was held with officials of the Environment Department and DPCC at the Delhi Secretariat regarding the increased AQI level in the recent past. During the meeting, it was noted that on the 16th and 17th of May, a significant portion of Delhi and NCR was engulfed by dust, causing reduced visibility,” the Delhi Environment Minister said.

He said the spike in Delhi’s AQI levels can be attributed to the westerly winds that carried dust from Thar and Pakistan.

“Consequently, the contribution of dust pollution increased from 11 per cent between May 1 to 15 to 65.77 per cent on May 16 and 17. This led to severe levels of PM10 in Delhi during these two days. Officials have been instructed to operate anti-smog cannons continuously and sprinkle water continuously at C&D sites,” he said.

Rai said as part of the Summer Action Plan, several departments have deployed 84 Mechanical Road Sweeping (MRS) machines, 609 water sprinklers, and 185 mobile anti-smog guns throughout Delhi to combat dust pollution.

He said previously, anti-smog guns were only required on construction sites larger than 20,000 square metres to address dust pollution.

“However, the new regulations now mandate the installation of anti-smog guns on construction sites larger than 5000 square metres. All relevant departments have been instructed to monitor construction sites continuously, and any violations of the rules will result in appropriate action by the department in accordance with NGT guidelines,” Rai said.